CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

Six years later

It really wasn’t every day that you found a dead body on your porch.

Sitting on her sofa with a cup of untouched tea in hand, Blair only half-listened as several of her pack mates stood around her cabin discussing the messed-up situation. All were varying degrees of unsettled.

Not that anyone here hadn’t seen a corpse before. There was a lot of violence in the shifter world. One-on-one duels. Group attacks. Full-on battles. But this here, well, this was different. The female on the porch hadn’t been killed in a battle for dominance. She hadn’t died in the defense of her pack mates. She’d been shot in the head and … well, hell.

If the victim had been part of the pack, everyone would be raging and swearing vengeance instead of calmly deliberating on the matter. But the fox shifter had been no friend to anyone here. Far from it. Despite that she’d only met Blair once, she’d made an enemy of her for life.

The first words the then-smirking fox had spoken to her were, “Hi, I’m Macy—the woman your mate has been sleeping with for the past six months.”

Blair had wanted to light the woman on fire. Not that she’d believed Macy. Nope. Not even for a second. Luke was loyal to a fault. He’d never betray Blair that way.

But the fox’s bullshit claim had been impossible to simply shrug off—it had sent all sorts of explicit images sailing through Blair’s mind. Images that she hadn’t been able to declare “imaginary,” since he’d bedded Macy long before Blair came into the picture. Blair had learned that little titbit years ago.

Many shifters would have beaten Macy bloody for falsely making such a claim and, essentially, trying to come between mates. But bush dogs much preferred annihilating people’s pride. So Blair had instead cleaned her clock, scrawled “I am a liar” on her forehead, cut huge chunks out of her hair, and dragged her to the bush dogs outside who’d then promptly cocked their legs and peed on her.

Macy had started to come round at that point, so Blair had sucker-punched her again and tossed her into the trunk of the fox’s sleek convertible. She’d driven straight to a popular shifter club, opened the trunk, and stood back with a smile as a once-more conscious Macy had leapt out of the vehicle … only to see that the people lined up outside the club’s entrance were gawking at her. Many had also snapped pictures, and several of those photos were then posted online. One was even made into a meme.

That “incident” took place a month ago directly after Macy slung her false claim at Blair. The redhead hadn’t returned, retaliated, or tried to contact Blair. Unsurprising. Generally, people didn’t strike back after such incidences, because everyone knew that bush dogs mostly played with you the first time. If there was a next time, what was left of your pride would be shredded. Because if there was one thing that bush dogs were experts at, it was the lost art of crushing people’s will to live.

Blair glanced out of the open front door just in time to see two of her pack mates cover the fox shifter with an old sheet. As they then transferred the body to a stretcher and began to carry it away, Blair took a shaky breath. She was far from queasy or easily daunted. But the sight of a corpse holding its own severed tongue while wearing nothing but the shiny red bow that was tied around its neck would turn anyone’s stomach.

The cut to her tongue had been too clean for it to have happened prior to her death, but that didn’t make it any less nauseating. There were no signs of assault or any marks to suggest that the female had been held captive. By all appearances, it seemed that Macy’s death had been a quick, simple execution. As if she hadn’t emotionally mattered to whoever took her life.

Kiesha sat beside Blair and crossed one dark-skinned leg over the other. “I know the fox did a seriously cruel thing to you, but she didn’t deserve that fate.”

Blair turned to the female who was both her close friend and the mate of her brother, Mitch. “No, she didn’t. And I think it’s safe to say that her pack’s gonna lose it.”

“It’s also safe to say that Luke’s gonna freak when he hears that someone left a corpse on your porch.” Pulling her gorgeous riot of black curls into a ponytail, Kiesha amended, “Well, maybe not freak outwardly. Your guy is good at containing his emotions. It drives your mother nuts, because she never succeeds at drawing him into an argument or making him snap.”

A fond smile tugged at Blair’s mouth. He did indeed hold back, knowing it grated on Noelle more than any comeback ever would.

Despite having had six years to make her peace with the situation, Noelle simply would not accept Luke’s place in Blair’s life. She was still utterly determined to keep Blair close and so viewed his claim to her as a threat.

Oh, Noelle hadn’t tried to limit their contact—she’d kept her word on that. But she’d never treated him as anything other than an imposition. Yet, he hadn’t broken his promise to Blair; he hadn’t allowed her mother to chase him away, which Blair adored him for.

Noelle’s behavior had increasingly ate at and tainted their mother-daughter relationship. They’d come to blows over it countless times, especially during the period when Noelle had paraded unmated male bush dogs in front of Blair as if there was any chance she’d forsake Luke.

Sometimes, it was hard to believe that the same woman who doted on Blair in so many ways—crocheting her pretty blankets, baking her lemon cake every Sunday, treating her with trips to spas, gifting her special editions of her favorite books—would also be so set against Blair claiming her own mate. Noelle simply had a blind spot when it came to him. Or, more specifically, to what he represented—that she’d one day no longer have Blair so close.

Noelle likely would have changed her tune toward Luke if she could have convinced him to join the pack rather than take Blair to his pride. He had actually offered to make the transfer. But when Blair had vetoed it—feeling he’d be unhappy here and that they, as a couple, needed space from Noelle’s controlling ways—he’d supported her decision. Then he’d become ‘the bad guy’ in Noelle’s mind once again.

Sweeping her gaze over her pack mates, Blair said, “Someone needs to notify Macy’s pack of her death.”

“I will contact her Alpha at some point tonight,” said Embry, standing near the fireplace.

Noelle crossed to him, pinning him with eyes the same hazel shade as his own. The siblings also shared the same burnished-gold hair and tall build, though his was heavily muscled. “The fox’s pack had better not blame Blair for this. She might have had an … altercation with the fox not so long ago, but if my daughter had wanted to kill her she’d have done it that night.”

Blair felt her back teeth lock. Her inner animal unsheathed the tips of her claws in annoyance. There wouldn’t have been an “altercation” if Noelle hadn’t felt it necessary to play games. She glanced at Mitch, who’d propped one hip against the wall; the look on his face said he was having that exact same thought.

“I doubt anyone will consider Blair a suspect,” said Les, scraping a hand over his lightly bearded jaw as he moved to stand behind Noelle. “It would make no sense for her to kill Macy and then stage the body on her own porch.”

“Whoever did it also did a good job of sneaking onto our territory undetected,” said Antoine, the Head Enforcer, one tanned arm braced on the fire mantel. “There’s no evidence that she was killed anywhere on our land, so the question is … why did they bring the body here?”

“It’s not obvious by the bow that Macy’s corpse was meant to be some kind of sick gift to Blair?” asked Kiesha. “I can’t be the only person who noticed that the bow was identical to those attached to the other things that have been recently left on her porch.”

Blair had received a few gifts from an anonymous sender over the past couple of months. The previous presents were normal, albeit entirely inappropriate. And, like Kiesha, she had the feeling that the sender of said gifts had also killed Macy; that he’d removed the fox’s tongue to punish her for the hurtful things she’d said. Macy hadn’t only lied that she’d been sleeping with Luke; she’d also tossed all sorts of insults at Blair.

Noelle flapped a hand. “This is not at all connected to the gifts that Blair received. They were obviously from an admirer who wanted to court her but, fearing Devereaux’s reaction, didn’t feel comfortable openly doing so.”

Antoine nodded, making the short, brown waves atop his head ruffle. “No doubt about it, the bow is a red herring,” he added, an arrogant surety in his deep-set eyes. “Something to throw us off the scent.”

Beside him, Donal said, “That would be my guess. As for why the body was brought here … It’s possible that someone just means to scare Blair.” The Beta shrugged, scratching at dark stubble that was peppered with the same silver as his equally dark hair. “This seems like psychological warfare to me.”

Mitch pushed away from the wall. “But why would anyone want to scare her?” he asked, lifting his compact shoulders, clearly unconvinced. “It’s not like she has any enemies. Macy’s pack mates might well be furious with her for what she did to the fox a month ago, but they’d hardly kill one of their own to frighten her.”

Noelle gave a delicate shrug. “It could have been a member of the Olympus Pride. I would imagine that some aren’t too happy about Luke’s plan to mate a bush dog.”

Blair felt her eyelid twitch, and her female peeled back her upper lip. “You are not pinning this on his pride.” She wished she could say it shocked her that Noelle would try to use this situation to further her own agenda, but it honestly didn’t.

“Don’t be willfully blind, Blair,” said Noelle, her voice fairly vibrating with impatience. “You naïvely persist in believing that his pride will want you to join. Like it or not, being the true mate of one of their own won’t be enough to make them welcome you.”

“They’ve never made me feel anything but welcome.” Particularly his family. Throughout the past six years, they’d made an effort to build a relationship with her, especially his sister Elle and his aunt Valentina. Even when Blair was young, the two women had often took her shopping or on girly outings. Noelle was too intimidated by Valentina—a take-no-shit wolverine shifter—to veto the trips.

“Just because they’ve never been rude to your face doesn’t mean that they want a bush dog for a Beta female.”

“Even if you’re right, it doesn’t mean they’d do something to scare me. I can’t even see why they’d bother. They’d gain nothing from it.”

“Luke’s kind don’t need a rational reason to do any of the things they do.”

Okay, Blair couldn’t really dispute that.

“People say our inner animals are unstable. Pallas cats take that to a whole other level.”

Blair couldn’t argue with that either. They might not be much bigger than domestic housecats when in their animal form, but the precious, snuggly-looking creatures were infeasibly strong and alarmingly vicious. Pallas cats didn’t pick fights, but they were always sure to make the first move—attacking with an unparalleled ferocity that was nothing short of hellishly disturbing. In sum, they were batshit.

Of course, Noelle used that to give credence to her “Luke’s not good for Blair” claims. And while Les had come to accept that the pallas cat was Blair’s mate, he remained stiff and informal toward him. Luke didn’t deserve that. All he’d ever done was try to make her life easier.

Luke might not have entered her world until she was twelve, but it didn’t feel that way, because he’d been such a huge part of it. He called every day, visited regularly, took her places, bought her gifts—determined that she’d never feel anything but safe, protected, and cared for.

Essentially he’d been, in a word, her guardian. A person she’d trusted above all others. A person she went to when she needed advice or simply someone to listen. He’d also been her one and only crush, not to mention her first kiss. The latter, to her frustration, hadn’t come until she was seventeen.

She almost smiled at the memory of how she and Kiesha—who’d only ever had eyes for Mitch—had back then made plans to each take their chosen male off-guard with a kiss. Blair had surprised Luke all right. Initially, he’d started to pull away from her, but then she’d sucked on his tongue … and he’d ravished her mouth, stealing her breath and sending her hormones into a tailspin as their—for lack of a better word—attraction finally found an outlet.

He’d also bitten her neck hard enough to permanently mark her that night. So she’d marked him right back. It had only seemed fair.

There had been no more make-out sessions until Blair turned eighteen. He’d also then treated her to a fair few orgasms, but he’d refused to take it further despite her best—and unrepentantly shameless—efforts to seduce him. He was set on taking her virginity on the very same night he officially claimed her.

Blair loathed having to wait. How could she not, when he was one giant magnet to her? It wasn’t merely about their predestined connection, it was because he was Luke. A fiercely loyal, unrelenting male who might have a darkly calculative streak but never let down the people who mattered to him.

In short, she adored him. He’d made it impossible for her not to. He focused so much energy on her. Made her feel like the center of everything. It was kind of dizzying at times.

She couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to not have him around all these years. She wasn’t sure she’d otherwise be the person she was today. Wasn’t sure she’d be as strong and confident and capable.

“You have to at least consider that I could be right,” said Noelle, snapping Blair out of her thoughts.

“I won’t believe that anyone from the Olympus Pride pulled any of the recent bullshit, let alone killed Macy,” Blair firmly stated.

“I can understand why you wouldn’t want to believe it, but your mother could be onto something here, Blair,” said Antoine. “You know Luke well. You know his family well. But you don’t know every pride member that well. I’m sure they’ve all been nice to you, but that doesn’t mean they’re thinking nice things about you. Let’s face it, they’ll be leery of offending their Beta male by slighting you.

“It doesn’t necessarily follow that they’d rather you weren’t part of the pride, true, but there could be some people that don’t. And just maybe one of them decided to do something about it. Just maybe they thought they’d scare you into sticking close to home, and they attached the bow to Macy so we’d finger your admirer. It’s a theory we should at least explore. It would do no good to dismiss people as possible suspects just because the idea of them being responsible is … is … I mean …” Antoine trailed off as she simply stared at him. Shifting slightly, he averted his gaze.

It really was amazing just how uncomfortable people could get when you merely stared at them without saying a word. It wasn’t simply that, in Mitch’s words, she had a “death stare.” For some, it was that they hated not knowing what you were thinking. For others, it was that receiving no feedback made them feel dismissed. Then there were those whose nerves just couldn’t handle dead silence.

“It wasn’t anyone from the Olympus Pride,” Blair insisted after a moment. “Even if someone there did think to scare me like this, they wouldn’t know to use the bow as a ‘red herring’ when they have no clue I’ve been receiving gifts with red bows attached. Embry asked me not to tell them.” Which wasn’t the true reason she’d kept quiet, but still. “He promised he’d get to the bottom of who was sending the gifts, despite that he felt I should be flattered that someone is so interested in me they’d risk Luke’s wrath by trying to ‘court’ me.”

Her parents had been equally dismissive of the situation. Neither Antoine nor Donal had thought there was any need for concern either, but they did feel that if a woman didn’t want to be pursued then she should damn well not be pursued. So they’d accompanied her as she questioned their pack mates and searched for answers. Mitch and Kiesha—both of whom were not happy about the gifts—had also been at her side. But the investigations had come to nothing.

Embry notched up his chin. “I did look into the matter.”

“But you didn’t take it seriously,” Blair pointed out. “Yeah, I get why you dismissed the first gift I received as someone’s idea of a weird-ass joke. And yeah, I understand why you also initially dubbed the strange phone calls silly pranks. But the longer it all went on, the more uneasy I got. You, however, carried on dismissing everything—including my concerns.

“You can’t ignore the obvious any longer, Embry. None of you can. The person doing all this isn’t merely a shy admirer or an idiotic prankster. They killed someone. And if the bow is anything to go by, they did it because they thought I’d be thankful. That screams ‘messed up in the head.’”

“She’s right,” said Mitch, thrusting his fingers through short hair the exact shade of blond that both he and Blair had inherited from their father. “This is some sociopathic shit right here.”

Les held up his hand. “We don’t know for sure that the same person is responsible for all those things.”

Kiesha folded her arms. “It would be a hell of a coincidence if she had a prankster, an oddball admirer, and a person willing to kill for her allfocused on her at the same time.”

Noelle cleared her throat. “If you’re right and we’re sticking with Blair’s theory that this is unrelated to the Olympus Pride … well, the perpetrator can only be Gabriel.”

A short silence hit the room. Blair swallowed. She hadn’t seen her childhood friend since he left the pack at the age of ten. He’d never been far away, though. And he’d found ways to let her know he was close.

Antoine’s dark eyes widened, and his arm slipped away from the fire mantel as he straightened. “You can’t be serious.”

Noelle sighed. “I know he’s your cousin, but you can’t pretend he isn’t capable of this. Of worse.”

Antoine took an aggressive step toward her, his face hard. “There was never any proof that he did the things he was accused of.”

“Just because Embry wasn’t able to prove it doesn’t mean that Gabriel was innocent.”

“It doesn’t mean he was guilty either. And it definitely doesn’t mean he’s now practically stalking Blair.”

Noelle’s lips thinned. “Look at the facts. He knows where she lives. He regularly sneaks onto our territory. And he leaves her little gifts—he’s been doing it for years.”

Antoine sighed. “He wedges playing cards between the wooden slats of her porch. He’s left similar things on my doorstep. They’re not gifts. It’s his way of saying hi while also taunting the pack that he can slip past our defenses so effortlessly.”

“Whoever left Macy’s body on the porch slipped on and off our territory without being sensed. They’re also evidently at ease with killing. The same can be said for Gabriel—he made his first kill when he was ten.”

Antoine’s eyes blazed. “You don’t know that for sure.”

“I knowthat he used to strip Blair’s dolls naked and then yank off body parts. Sounds a little similar to what was done to Macy, doesn’t it?”

Shaking his head, Antoine shifted his gaze to Blair. “He wouldn’t do any of this. You were his only real friend, Blair. He’d never do anything to scare you.”

“But he might try his hand at romancing her,” said Les. “And, given he’s not quite normal, his efforts at romancing someone wouldn’t be quite normal.”

Blair placed her cup on the coffee table. “I really don’t think he’d be interested in trying to ‘romance’ me. I don’t see why anyone would. It’s well known that I’ll soon bond with Luke. I wear his damn mark, for Christ’s sake.”

Fiddling with the sleeve of her blouse, Noelle cleared her throat. “Speaking of Luke … I see no need for him to be notified of what happened here tonight.”

Blair blinked, and her inner animal bristled. “Say what now?”

Mitch gaped, setting his hands on his tapered hips. “Mom, you can’t seriously expect her to keep something this huge from her own mate.”

“Why not?” asked Noelle. “You know how ridiculously overprotective he is of her.”

Blair felt her brows fly up. Pot. Kettle. Black. While Luke was indeed exceedingly overprotective, there was nothing toxic about it. He didn’t try to make Blair feel as though she couldn’t take care of herself or be trusted to make wise choices. He’d always made a point of building her up, supporting her, ensuring she knew her own worth, and encouraging her to be self-reliant.

The latter was no small thing, since most alpha males who found their mate while she was at a suggestible age would have instead tried conditioning her to rely solely on them. But Luke had only ever tried to lift her up, not contain her in a little box where she’d be nice and safe and under his spell.

“He’ll completely overreact,” Noelle continued. “No offense”—she looked at Embry—“but alphas aren’t always rational when it comes to the women in their lives. Luke is no exception.”

“She has a point,” said Antoine. “Besides, this is pack business. He’s not pack.”

Les nodded, the traitor.

Donal rubbed the back of his head. “Maybe we should hold off telling Luke until we at least know who did this.”

Ouch. Blair had honestly expected better of him. Knowing she’d be a Beta herself one day, he’d given her plenty of training; had been supportive of her future with Luke. Apparently, that only went so far.

“Or maybe we should let Blair decide what happens,” said Kiesha. “It’s her life, her mate, her choice.”

“No, I think not,” said Noelle dismissively. “She will make the decision she believes Lukewould want her to make. Not the choice she should make.”

Yeah. Right. Because Blair so didn’t have her own mind or anything. She was about to give her mother a ration of shit, but then Embry turned to her.

“Blair, I understand why it might make you feel uncomfortable to say nothing to Luke about this,” said the Alpha, “but the situation needs to be handled by the pack, not him. You will hold off on telling him until we know who killed the fox.”

As her parents, Embry, Donal and Antoine all moved on without letting her say her piece, Blair felt her nostrils flare. Not a fan of having her input dismissed, she did what she knew would get their attention. She gently gripped her thumb … and slid it out of the joint. The pop made everyone go still.

A master at controlled dislocations, she did it to one finger. Then another. And another, filling the room with clicks and pops and snaps. She then slid one arm out of the shoulder socket and—

“Okay, okay, stop!” Embry held up his hands. “Seriously, no more.”

Blair unhurriedly righted her joints, hiding a smile at the shudders that ran through her pack mates.

“I hate it when you do that,” said Mitch.

Well she knew that. Shifters were used to hearing bones snap and pop—it happened when they made the transformation from human to animal, but those transformations were so super swift that the moment was over in mere milliseconds. Watching someone bend their body in unnatural ways much like a demonically possessed woman from a horror movie? That,shifters tended not to like. Especially Mitch, who she’d chased across a room more than once while doing an imitation of a human crab Exorcist-style.

Noelle let out a put upon sigh. “Do you really think that such a display of mutiny will have us all reevaluate our decision?”

“Oh no,” replied Blair. “The conversation here tonight went pretty much how I thought it would. But that’s okay. I already took measures to ensure that things went my way.”

Noelle stilled. “What?”

“I called Luke before you guys got here. I gave him a quick rundown of the situation and, yeah, he went apeshit.” She tipped her head to the side, hearing the rumbling of an engine in the near distance. “That’s probably him right now.” Her inner animal jumped to her feet, eager to see him.

Embry sighed, his eyes falling closed.

“Why, Blair?” Noelle’s nostrils flared. “Why did you have to pull him into this? It’s pack business.”

“It’s my business,” said Blair. “And, whether you like it or not, I’m Luke’s business. You wouldn’t keep something like this from Dad if you were in my position. You know you wouldn’t. You also know that Luke isn’t quite the villain you make him out to be, but you’re determined to hate him nonetheless. All he’s ever done is what’s best for me—”

“So starry-eyed when it comes to him,” Noelle scoffed. “He’s convinced you that he’s oh so perfect. That he’ll be the perfect partner. The reality is that you have no real clue what kind of mate he’ll be.”

Blair shook her head in annoyance. “Not true.” She was quite aware that being bound to him would be vastly different from simply having him in her life. She knew there’d be challenges to having Luke as a mate—she was under no illusions about that. Hell, the need to take charge was essentially encoded in his DNA. There’d likely be some pushing and pulling until they found their balance, but they would find it.

“Did you also tell him about the phone calls and the gifts?” asked Embry, his voice laced with dread.

Blair nodded. “Yup.” The news hadn’t washed down well at all. He was mad as hell at her for keeping it from him until now.

Embry swore, scrubbing his hand down his face. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

“I gave you the chance to address what was happening,” said Blair. “You didn’t. It escalated. A woman is now dead.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t even make sense that a person trying to court you would dump a corpse on your porch.”

“You got any other suspects?”

Embry snapped his mouth shut.

Yeah, that’s what she’d thought.

Blair glanced outside in time to see an SUV pull up near the cabin. Luke smoothly slid out of it, and the sight of him made her inner animal wag her tiny tail.

Blair stood and moved to the doorway to greet him.It had to be said thathe was a treat for the eyes. So sexy it bordered on indecent. And decidedly masculine with his distinct jawline, sharp nose, strong arms, and powerful build. Sometimes, Blair couldn’t quite believe he was hers.

He had a great butt, too. Terrific abs. A little stubble that made him look stylish and well-groomed rather than scruffy. His short hair was a deep brown that made her think of burnt umber.

A half-smile often graced his mouth. Not today, though. It was set in a grim line.

His gaze locked on her. So blue. So focused. So openly possessive.

The need that always simmered in her blood ramped up—hot, thick, primitive. The mating urge struck them a few months back, which had come as a surprise. Bush dogs didn’t usually experience it, and it was thought that if one person couldn’t feel it than their mate wouldn’t either. Maybe that was correct, or maybe it differed from couple to couple. It was hard to be certain when bush dogs so rarely mated outside their own kind.

Whatever the case, she and Luke hadn’t been spared it. Kiesha had speculated that maybe nature itself had stepped in when he and Blair hadn’t immediately claimed each other after she turned eighteen; that it had struck them both with the mating urge to speed things along. It was possible, Blair supposed.

Thankfully, its effects had levelled off after a few days. The mating urge was no longer a raging fire inside her that clouded her thoughts, but it was constant and relentless and gave her no quarter; tiring her mentally and physically, making it hard for her to relax or sleep.

She always felt achy and edgy and over-sensitized—sensations that worsened when they were apart. No amount of orgasms dimmed the need, because it wasn’t a mere craving for sexual satisfaction. No, it was a craving to be claimed.

Her pulse jumped as he began prowling toward her cabin. He had a smolderingly sexy walk. Moved with a menacing grace and a relaxed, purposeful stride.

He always looked like he belonged. Even smack bam in the middle of other shifter territory, he was all ease and self-assurance. A predator who didn’t even consider, let alone fear,it would be challenged because it felt that no one nearby was its equal.

Luke ascended her porch and crossed straight to her. His scent settled over her, soothing her ragged nerves even as it fired her arousal. Her nerve-endings felt so raw that the simple feel of his palm settling over her nape was enough to make her shiver just a little.

Luke didn’t merely meet her eyes, he dived into them, looking deeper than anyone else ever had. “You all right?” he asked.

“I will be when I find out who put a dead body on my porch,” she replied, splaying a hand on his chest. She could sense his cat pushing against Luke’s skin, making his presence known. Her own animal rose to meet the feline, wanting his attention.

“How long was the body there?”

“I don’t know exactly.” Lowering her arm, Blair backed up and moved aside to let him pass. He stalked into the cabin … and quite simply filled the space just like that. The others tensed. Of course they did. The alpha vibes he exuded were usually subtle. Right now? Not so much.

She wasn’t entirely sure why, but a whole lot of anger lived within her mate. In keeping it on a tight leash, he also kept much of himself contained. But whenever anything prodded his temper, the leash eased up, and then the full force of his personality poured right out. The sheer power of him was honestly a little overwhelming.

It would be so easy to let someone like that take over. Take you over. Especially when they brimmed with a raw alpha energy that was hardwired into them. So it was really a good thing that Blair had had plenty of practice at bearing the weight of it.

“The body wasn’t there when I came home at six pm,” Blair told him. “I had dinner, took a shower, pulled on some fresh clothes. I decided to go sit on the front porch for a while. But when I opened the front door …”

“We searched our territory,” Mitch cut in. “We found no tracks. Whoever did this managed to leave no trace of themselves behind. It was like they were never here.”

“I checked the body,” Blair told Luke. “There are no signs of assault. No defensive wounds. No bruising around her wrists or ankles to suggest she was bound at any point. Seems like she was shot in the head before she had the chance to fight and then subsequently had her tongue removed.”

“Is it one of your pack mates?” Luke asked her.

Blair bit her lip. She hadn’t fullybriefed him on the details over the phone, not wanting him to be too pissed as he drove. “Her name is Macy Corbitt.” She paused as recognition flashed in his eyes. “She came here a few weeks back.”

He went unnaturally still. “Came here to your territory?”

Blair nodded. “She wanted to speak to me.”

“Speak to you? About what?”

Blair slid her gaze to Noelle. “Do you want to tell him or should I?”

Her mother’s eyes briefly widened.

He slowly turned to face Noelle, his gaze hard. “What did you do?”

Noelle gave a little sniff. “Nothing any mother wouldn’t have done. Macy approached me at the mall one day. She said that she’d been your lover for half a year now. She thought it only right that Blair learn about it, so I brought her here.”

A low growl reverberated inside Luke’s chest. “You’re kidding me,” he clipped.

Embry stood a little straighter. “I think we should—”

“You know I would never betray Blair,” Luke said to Noelle. “You might wish I was that much of a bastard, but you know I’m not. You didn’t believe Macy—it’s written all over your face.”

Noelle licked her lips. “I didn’t believe her, no. But it didn’t seem right to keep it from Blair. She had the right to hear the fox out and decide the truth for herself.”

“You mean you hoped she’d believe that bullshit because you want Blair to renounce me.” Luke’s jaw went rock hard. “It didn’t bother you that she’d have been wrecked if she had believed it. No. As long as you’re getting your way, nothing else matters, does it?”

Noelle bristled. “I hope you’re not insinuating that I care nothing for Blair’s feelings. My children are my world.”

“But you’re only content when you’re controlling their world,” he snapped back. “Did you do anything to help find out who was sending her gifts? Were you even remotely concerned? Or were you too damn excited at the prospect that someone might intend to lure her away from me?”

Defensive, Noelle lifted her chin. “I initially saw no reason to be concerned.”

He growled again. “She was sent a bouquet of rolled up lace panties, a box of sex toys, and a jar of love coupons that had everything from ‘breakfast in bed’ to ‘anal sex.’ Tell me how that isn’t concerning.”

Noelle looked away. “I thought they were merely being bold in an effort to ensure that they had her attention. Now, well, it would seem that perhaps there is more to the situation than that. If that is the case, it will be handled.”

“It should have already been handled. It should never have gotten to this point. She’s supposed to be safe here. To feel safe here. Not have her worries brushed off like they’re nothing. More, sheshould never have been asked to keep this from me.” A muscle in Luke’s cheek ticking, he turned to Blair. “We’re leaving.”

Noelle stiffened. “What? No.”

He flicked up a brow. “You want Blair to stay here?”

“There’s no reason why she can’t,” insisted Noelle. “We will tighten security. Whoever has been trespassing so often won’t manage it again.”

“You believe right down to your gut that an outsider did this? That she’s one hundred percent safe here? Because I don’t. As Mitch said, there’s no trace of a trespasser. It’s reasonable to conclude that just maybe one of the pack is responsible. You might be willing to take the risk that it wasn’t, but I’m not. Blair comes with me.”

“You can’t just take her.”

“The only person who could stop me is Blair. She doesn’t want to stay here.”

Noelle’s upper lip curled. “Oh, you know what she wants, do you?”

“Yes, he does,” Blair cut in, moving to grab a large duffel from the floor near the front door. “Because I told him.”

Her mother’s eyes dropped to the bag as Blair lifted it. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving,” Blair told her, taking strength from the hand Luke rested on her back as he came up behind her. She’d packed the bag right after calling him. “I’m joining the Olympus Pride.”

Soft male curses floated around the room.

Kiesha nodded in understanding.

Noelle lurched forward, her eyes bulging. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Blair shot her a disdainful glare. “The only reason I didn’t storm off this territory when you pulled that stunt with Macy was that Luke’s pride had a lot going on at the time.” Shootings, break-ins, bombings, the lot. “The last thing they needed was to have to take the time to welcome a new member and adjust to having a Beta female. I didn’t want them having any kind of distractions, so I waited.” And going by the little growl Luke let out, he wasn’t pleased that she had.

“Beta female?” Noelle echoed, paling. She slammed her gaze on Luke. “No. No, you can’t claim her yet. You can’t.”

“Sure I can,” he said. “And I will.”

Noelle’s eyes blazed. “You sworeyou’d wait until she turned nineteen!”

“And you promised you wouldn’t try to come between me and Blair. But you used Macy to try to do exactly that. You went back on your word, freeing me to go back on mine.”

Noelle turned to Blair. “How do you know he didn’t arrange Macy’s death so that you’d be scared enough to leave our territory?”

Blair’s animal bared her teeth at the insane notion. “Because I know him. You’re very fond of telling me that I don’t. But the truth is that the person who doesn’t know him is you. You never tried to get to know him. You built him up to be a huge asshole in your head for your own selfish reasons, never caring how that makes him feel; never caring how it makes me feel.”

Les took a step toward her. “Blair, let’s talk about this. I realize you’re upset, but making a rash decision such as this isn’t the answer.”

“I made this decision when my mother—my own mother—brought a woman here to tell me lies in the hope that afterwards I’d turn away from my mate.” The thought of it still made Blair’s chest squeeze. She cut her gaze back to Noelle. “Luke was right in what he said. It meant nothing to you that my heart would be broken if I believed those lies. Well, my heart did fracture a little. But not because of anything Macy said; it was because of what you did.”

“I don’t want you to hurt but, dammit, Blair, you have it in your head that him being your true mate means he has to be your future,” clipped Noelle. “Your father isn’t my predestined mate. A lot of the people in our pack imprinted on others. We’re all happy.”

“That’s great, but I don’t want to imprint on someone. I want Luke. He is my choice. He is my animal’s choice. You just won’t respect that, though, will you? It’s why you recently tried to convince him to wait longer to claim me. Yes, I heard all about it from one of your many friends—they don’t all agree that you have the right to dictate when I claim my own mate.”

Noelle’s hands balled up. “You’re too young to bind yourself to someone.”

Blair snorted. “If it was one of the pack who wanted to claim me so soon, you’d have no problem with it.”

“I only want what’s best for you.”

“You love me. I know that. But your definition of what’s best for me is, in fact, what’s best for you.”

Noelle’s mouth opened and closed. “That’s not true.”

“Of course it is. But it doesn’t surprise me that you’d deny it. It doesn’t surprise me that, even now, when I’m about to walk out that door and join Luke’s pride, you’d refuse to admit you’re in the wrong.” Blair slid her gaze to Embry. “I’ll come back for the rest of my stuff in a day or so.”

“Mitch and I will pack it up for you,” Kiesha offered, and Mitch nodded.

Blair gave them a grateful smile and then glanced over her shoulder at Luke. “Let’s go.” She opened the door and walked out.

“Blair!” Noelle shouted. “Blair, you get back here right now!”

Instead, Blair ignored her and headed right for Luke’s SUV.

“You can’t leave, you can’t—let me go, Mitch!”

“We can’t stop her from leaving, Mom,” said Mitch. “She’s not a child anymore.”

Les called out her name, but Blair ignored him as well, waiting as Luke held open the front passenger door for her. He then placed a protective hand on the top of her head as she slid into the vehicle.

“Embry, do something,” Noelle pled as the group piled out onto the porch. “Stop him.”

Luke pinned the Alpha with a hard glare. “I strongly advise you not to try it. You’ve pissed me off enough already by not only letting Blair down but telling her to withhold things from me. You really want to make that worse?”

After a long moment, Embry sighed and then shrugged at his sister. “He’s her mate. I can’t come between mates.”

“Right decision.” Luke closed Blair’s door and then tossed her duffel in his trunk.

Noelle tried dashing down the porch steps, but Mitch cuffed her arm and said, “Mom, just … stop.”

Blair turned away from the scene to instead watch as Luke settled on the driver’s seat and clicked on his seatbelt. Saying nothing, he switched on the engine and drove off, his muscles bunched, his jaw hard.

“Be sure you want to come home with me, Blair,” he said. “If you’re not, I can take you to Elle’s apartment; you can stay there for however long you need. But if you come home with me, that’ll be it; there’ll be no going back. I won’t claim you tonight—you’ve had far too shitty an evening, and neither of us are in a good frame of mind. But if you sleep in my bed even just once, you’ll never leave it. I won’t be able to let you go. So be sure.”

She frowned. “Do you want me to hurt you? Is that what this is? You know better than to think that I’d say I was ready to be claimed if I wasn’t damn sure. I’d never mess with your head that way. But punch you in the throat for thinking differently for even a second? Yeah, that’s an appealing thought right now. Asshole.”

His lips quirked in amusement. “All right, then.”